ARTICLES 2 + 2
Getting into Small Stakes Online 6-max NLHE (nextgenneo)
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3
My 5k post (fees)
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13
Basic theory – expected value (matrix)
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27
A FRAMEWORK FOR POKER STUDY (learnedfromtv)
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31
What matters, What doesn't (cbloom)
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36
6 Max fundamentals for SSNL players (Tien)
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38
Tien's Article on Mentality, Image, and changing gears (Tien)
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41
Almost there with Success and Failure (Gigabet)
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44
Thoughts on Running bad for UNL guys (ssdex)
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47
Do things for a reason (ofishstix)
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49
Evolving (MTG)
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50
Opening Up Your Eyes and Your Game (AJFenix)
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52
How to use Poker Tracker (Pokey)
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56
SOME THOUGHTS ON GAME SELECTION (fiksdal)
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59
How to Put It All Together and be a Winning Player (MikeyPatriot)
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62
Advice from a MHNL'er (whitelime’s)
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64
UNL YOU ARE WEAK TIGHT (Pokey)
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71
Working on your game (kom)
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74
The Basics: session review & " Deconstruction" (matrix)
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77
THE EVOLUTION OF A POKER PLAYER (aejones)
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79
BETTING THE TURN vs BETTING THE RIVER (Reguin)
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84
Crushing Short Stacks (Cry Me A River)
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87
My Pooh-Bah post (C/R vs. b/3b) (Dan Bitel)
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97
Small PP's - Moving beyond set mining (AZplaya)
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99
Where the !*$# is Valuetown?? (pokey)
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101
Playing OOP (epdaws)
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118
LOOSE AGGRESSIVE PLAY (BalugaWhale)
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122
You Should Open Limp... (RichC.)
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124
Suited Connectors, Implied Odds, and You (goofyballer)
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126
Reraised Blind Battles and Bluffing with Marginal Hands (sam h)
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130
3-betting light (Dan Bitel)
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134
Preflop 4betting (Theory) (tannenj)
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137
Blind stealing (Pokey)
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147
Taking stealing the blinds to next level (Dan Bitel)
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152
TILT and PSYCHOLOGY
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154
The psychology of TILT (DaycareInferno)
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154
TILT and R.A.A. (Pjo336)
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156
My Take On Tilt (beavens)
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159
Variance, Tilt, Ego, and SSNL (lmw)
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162
EVERYTHING ABOUT CONTINUATION BET
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164
Continuation betting – PART I (MYNAMEIZGREG)
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164
C-BETTING (The Machine)
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166
CONTINUATION BET ARTICLE (FreakDaddy)
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169
WHY AM-I C-BETTING AGAIN ? (biblio-san)
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173
Some thoughts on continuation bet sizing (Panthro)
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177
GET IT IN (poincaraux)
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186
PLAYING JUNK FROM LATE POSITION (tannenj)
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189
HAND RANGES, READS AND NOTES
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201
READS (djoyce003)
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201
HAND READING / BET SIZING (carnivalhobo)
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205
AN UNBELIEVABLY LONG GUIDE TO HAND READING (Pokey)
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209
Taking Notes & Making Reads Article (I) (FreakDaddy)
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217
Taking Notes & Making Reads Article (II) (FreakDaddy)
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227
HAND RANGES (Mercman572)
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232
RANGES (supwithbates)
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234
The thought process during a hand (Nogastira)
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236
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239
Profiling opponents using PAH (sh58)
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240
SOME GOOD TO KNOW PAHUD STUFF (Nick Royale)
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244
BLUFFING
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248
Getting into Small Stakes Online 6-max NLHE
(nextgenneo)
Disclaimer: This is something I wrote for a friend who wanted to get into
poker and I’ve decided to share it with the general populous. This is
designed for uNL 6max and a lot of the concepts may not apply to higher
stakes games against opponents thinking on higher levels. There could be
plain wrong information, in here so question everything, in turn you will
gain better understandings of fundamentals and maybe even help me
overlook something I've forgot. I am not claiming that preflop 6max is
"chart based" or a few simple rules will make you a winning player but for
someone starting out I think the concepts here are good starting points.
Take everything in this for face value. Some of the stuff might be fairly
trivial however it never hurts to think about fundamentals. I don't claim to
be the best in the world but I know I am a proven winner at MSNL so that
counts for something. I've worked up from $300 on $25NL so I've put my
time in on lower stakes and no the grind it is, however it’s got to be done.
Introduction
When it comes to NLHE, this is the fundamental theory: You're opponent has a range of
hands, some are better and some are worse. Your goal is to maximize your profit from the
worst hands whilst minimizing your losses from better hands and so, make the most
money against their range. As the hand goes on and more betting decisions have been
made, your opponents range is narrowed so at no point in the hand do you have to "find
out where you are". This is a common misconception.
Consider a hand where you have 99 oop in a 3bet pot on an 8 high board (without the
lead). If you c/r the flop to find out where you are, your average opponent will fold all the
range you beat (over cards, small pairs) and stack off against the opponents range of
QQ-AA. The fundamental theorem has been violated by trying to "find out where you are" on
the flop. Instead if you check called and check/raised the turn all in this would allow an
opponent to double barrel a hand such as AK, over commit with pairs or check behind
giving us free information to narrow the opponents range and profit more. This is how
you should be thinking during your hands. Do not allow your opponent to make easy and
perfect decisions against your hand by playing it poorly.
Also if you want to play poker for fun then enjoy it, try and improve; whatever. But if
you want to move up and make serious money you need to approach it from a different
angle. When you have a bad session, instead of thinking “oh crap I lost 6 buy ins from
bad beats”, think “how could I have saved myself I buy in or two”, “how could I have
made more money than I did on so and so hand” etc. Until you are the best player in the
world and playing every hand perfectly there is always room for improvement. Take
responsibility for your play, and stop using variance as a scape goat.
Stats are very important but not the end all of being a winning player. TAG stats are at
minimum 15/13/3 and can range all the way up to 25/20/4 where its vpip/pfr/af. Try and
aim for 16/14/4. The spread is also really important and it is vital to have your pfr close
to your vpip whilst learning, so I suggest you play a mainly raise / fold strategy preflop.
The better you get and the more comfortable you feel postflop, the more you can cold call
preflop and this spread can get wider.
Its also very important to not play too many tables whilst you learn. This is a mistake a
lot of people make and even I still do sometimes. Playing loads of tables means you need
to be comfortable making 95% of decisions with little thought (autopilot) so until you are
really experienced this isn’t going to be the case. First bit of advice is to play no more
than 4 tables until you are a solid winner. Post flop is going to be a lot about thinking
during hands and will come from reading, thinking, watching videos and mostly
experience.
Learning is key to playing good poker, its a lot of work but the monetary reward later and
satisfaction in being truly good at something is a reward in itself. I really hope you read
this and take something out of it, I wish someone handed all of this to me on a platter
when I was coming up!
Recommend Stats for HUD
I definitely recommend playing with a HUD. The stats that are a MUST are preflop raise,
vpip, number of hands. Aggression frequencies / factors. Fold / raise / call continuation
bet. Attempt to steal blinds and fold SB/BB to steal.
Preflop Chart
First thing to do with preflop is a general hand chart. This is a style that was successful
for me. You need to keep in mind preflop that different table conditions and your image
on each table can vastly shift these ranges. As you gain a clear understanding of how
these factors should change your ranges then you can move away from this rigid form of
play.
Raises should always be 4 x the big blind + 1 big blind for every limper
e.g If two guys limp and you are on the button with AK in .05-.10c game you
should make it .60c.
Open raise the following hands (open raise means if no-one has raised or limped).
These positions are dependent on how far from the button you are so if its less than six
handed then change accordingly.
Early Position
UTG (3 from button)
22 +
AJo +
ATs – AKs
TJs, QJs, KQs
KQo, AKo
56s – T9s (consider raising from time to time, especially if there are weaker
players in the blinds)
UTG + 1 (2 from button)
22 +
ATo +
A2s +
TJs, QJs, KQs, KJs
QJo, KJo, KQo, AKo
56s – T9s (consider raising from time to time, especially if there are weaker
players in the blinds)
Late Position
Something interesting from a theory perspective, if you look at the small blinds fold SB
to steal stat and the big blinds fold BB to steal stat, if they multiply to be > 0.7 and you
assume every time they don’t fold you never win the hand then theoretically you can
raise any two profitably. If you consider you make money with these hands then this 0.7
number can be lowered further.
CO (1 from button)
22 +
A8o +
A2s +
T8s, 98s, T9s, TJs, QJs, KQs, KJs, KTs, QTs, K9s, Q9s, J9s
TJo, QTo, QJo, KTo, KJo, KQo, AKo
56s – T9s
Button
The majority of your money comes from the button. 30-40% of my profits come
from the button so you want to abuse it.
22+
Any Ax o / Ax s
Kx suited
Any suited connector 54s or better
Any one gapper 68s or better
Any two gapper T7s or better
Any connector 89o or better
J8s +, J9o+
Q8s +, Q9o+
K9o +
Blinds
This is the area I struggle with the most and when you’re starting out I recommend
playing a very tight range in the blinds.
Small blind when it folds to you (pretty much same as UTG+1)
22 +
A8o +
A2s +
TJs, QJs, KQs, KJs
QJo, KJo, KQo, AKo
Big Blind when it folds around and someone completes (same as CO)
22 +
A9o +
A8s +
T8s, 98s, T9s, TJs, QJs, KQs, KJs, KTs, QTs, K9s, Q9s, J9s
TJo, QTo, QJo, KTo, KJo, KQo, AKo
Big blind when there are a few limpers
99+ (sometimes raise with lower pockets if the table is fishy)
AQo +
KQs +
AKo
Suited connectors
Suited connectors are generally over-rated by a lot of players and are very tough hands to
play. I wouldn’t be calling raises with suited connectors even from position because
people over-estimate implied odds all the time and they can get tough to play post flop.
Every now it is alright to call with 78s if the raiser is a bad player (as in he has 40+ vpip
and is spewy). Also they are good to open according to my opening guide above.
They are also good to 3bet. If someone is raising a lot of hands from position then you
can reraise them occasionally with suited connectors but this has a lot to do with
metagame and table image which is a little too advance for this but some food for
thought.
Suited connectors are good to be calling raises with however when you are playing deep
i.e 150bb + with someone but don’t get carried away.
Playing from the blinds
When you are starting out the blinds are going to be the trickiest spot to play from. They
are for most experienced players including myself. First off don’t fall into the, its only ½
big blind to complete trap. Hands like 96o are garbage and should never be completed!
You will have to play the rest of the hand out of position and unless you flop the absolute
stone cold nuts your gonna get in a lot of trouble and be throwing money away.
Play as tight as you possibly can from the small blind but with pocket pairs you
probably want to be raising when there are limpers. The big blind can be tricky but I
prefer to check my option most of the time and see a flop.
Preflop Concepts
Position
As you can see from this guide position is everything. These are very general rules for how I
beat micro stakes and as you get better with these you will gain a feel for hands and situations
and be able to change these ranges depending on opponents, your image on the table and how
the table has been playing. I can’t stress enough though you want to play tight from all
positions other than CO and Button and loosen up from those spots but still play aggressive!
Limping
Limping in 6 handed NLHE cash games is always going to be a mistake. It will also add
another level of complexity to your game that is unnecessary. For instance if you limp 22-55
UTG then you will have to start limping other hands, including strong ones, and limp/raising
AA and limp/raising bluffs to balance your ranges. By always raising you’re making yourself
harder to play against, keeping your ranges balanced without the bigger headache, and always
gaining the positive expectation of putting yourself in a position to steal the blinds. Limping
also leads to people playing less than optimal hands. If its not good enough for a raise, its not
good enough to play so fold.
Limpers
Having said that about limping, limpers are and will be a part of the games for the foreseeable
future. To exploit these players mistake you need to be isolating (raising) there limps with a
fairly wide range. It is also good to watch there play and get an idea if they limp/call or
limp/fold a lot. A player that limp/folds a ton means you can isolate him with any ace and
even hands like Q7s / 78s. Also players that limp/call and then fold lots of flops to c-bets are
good candidates to isolate very wide. However, be weary of players who limp/call a lot and
rarely fold to c-bets. It is generally a mistake to isolate them with weak connector type hands.
By doing this you will be putting money in with the worst hand a lot of the time and not
enough fold equity pre or post.
Pockets if there are limpers in front
You want to raise any pocket pairs as standard if they are full stacked. This is so you can:
Punish their limp and pick up the free money
You build a pot so if you hit your set its going to be easier to get their stack in.
Deception. If you are always limping behind with pockets its going to be obvious
against thinking opponents
Reasons to just limp behind with pockets are if their stack is not a full 100bb. Generally if
your raise is going to be more than 10% of their stack then don’t make the raise. However
if one person who limps has a large stack and another is short, still make the raise. For
instance:
In a .05c-.10c game someone open limps UTG with a $2.10 stack. It is onto you in the CO
with 44, you prob don’t want to raise to 0.4c because the implied odds are cut short due to his
small stack and he is going to be much more willing to just stick it in with any draw / pair on
the flop which will lead you to some tough decisions and often folding the best hand.
However, in a .05c-.10c game someone open limps UTG with an $11 stack (you cover). It is
onto you in the CO with 44, you do want to make it 50c to go always with any pocket.
Calling raises and re-raises with pocket pairs
This is a very general rule which applies to all of small stakes but won’t work in mid stakes
and beyond. There’s lots of literature on this in the sticky section of 2p2.
If someone raises and you have a pocket pair, call if it is 5-10% of your
stack.
Reasons for this are you will flop a set about 1 in 10 times and if you assume you will win
their stack you have the implied odds. You want to look at poker ace hud stats though in
making the decision. The higher the vpip the more you can call profitably pre looking to hit a
set because generally this means they are poor players who will stack of lightly. If someone
with a 20 vpip raises I wouldn’t want to call more than 5% of my stack off because they are
good enough to not pay you off all the time. Whereas if someone with 55vpip raises I would
have no problems calling 10% off with 22 because you will often win unimproved and
generally they will continue with any piece of the board so its going to be very easy to play a
big pot with them. Also, if you are facing a large raise or reraise you want to call off less of
your stack out of position than in position.
E.g 1 In a .05-.10c game you make it 0.40c from UTG+1 with 33, a solid player with 20vpip
raises to $1.20 from the button, its onto you. You are $10 deep here I’d be inclined to fold
because they are probably re-raising you wide enough that you would need a setup flop to
stack them and this will happen too infrequently. You are also out of position.
E.g 2 In a .05-.10c game you make it 0.40c from UTG+1 with 33, a solid player with 20vpip
raises to $1.20 from the big blind, its onto you. You are $14 deep here I’d be inclined to call
because you are in position so it will be easier to put money in, and you are also slightly
deeper so you have better implied odds.
E.g 3 In a .05-.10c game you make it 0.40c from UTG with 33, a very tight player with
15vpip raises to $1.00 from the button, its onto you. You are $5 deep here I’d be inclined to
fold because you don’t have the proper implied odds.
E.g 4 In a .05-.10c game you make it 0.40c from UTG with 33, a very tight player with
15vpip raises to $1.00 from the button, its onto you. You are $10 deep here I’d be inclined to
call because even thought it is tight his range is a big pocket pair enough of the time that you
can be confident the majority of the time you hit a set you will be good.
Hope you see the point of calling raises for set value. This changes drastically in mid limits
because people’s 3betting ranges are much wider but I feel this can be used almost perfectly
against micro / small stakes players. This is all very important as pocket pairs are where
most of your money comes from when you play tight aggressive 6max.
Important concept: Something else to consider is their raise and aggression statistic.
If someone has a large raise % or is very aggressive then if it’s a tight call from
implied odds perspective then you might want to dump it because they could be
reraising you light with AQ/AJ type hands and you would need the perfect flop to
stack them (A3x if u hold 33) whereas if they hardly raise their range is drastically cut
down and contains big pockets a lot of the time so you don’t need that “perfect flop”. I
would consider a large raise % to be anything >17 and a high aggression factor
anything > 3.5. Bare in mind that poker ace statistics like agro factors are only useful
when u have 100+ hands but vpip is generally a good indicator from 30-40 hands on.
A brief note on 3betting
When I played micro stakes entering a raised pot I pretty much never flat call a raise out of
position ever! So if I have KQ in the blinds or AJ in the blinds and some raises I am either
folding or raising. If they have a full 100bb then I will raise 3-4times their raise. Out of
position I recommend when your reraise should be 4 times and in position you can get away
with raising 3 times because its going to be easier to play the hand.
When you are considering entering a raised pot you should look at their preflop raise stat. The
higher it is, the wider the range of hands you can reraise with is. If some1 raises 2% of flops
you prob just want to call with TT and play for set value and fold KQ because their range is
so strong but if someone raises 18% of hands you should be reraising KQ and TT often
against them because you are ahead of their range. 3-betting “light” is a very hard style to
play against and most people on microstakes think that when some1 reraises they have
AA/KK so your c-bets don’t have to be as big because they are going to get A LOT of
respect.
However I don’t recommend 3-betting too light at these stakes because there is no real need
and when you are starting your poker career its best to keep it simple. If you feel the hand
isn’t good enough for a reraise then dump it!
Something very important which I forgot to mention is when someone raises look at what
position they are raising from and if there are limpers in front. This can give you a lot of
information on their hand but only take into this account if they seem to be a good player
(because only good players widen their range in position). If you think they could have a wide
range then 3-bet more liberally.
Continuation bets
Heads up when you’ve raised preflop you want to be c-betting 60-70% of flops. This is to do
with the overall concept that your opponent will only hit the flop 1 in 3 times, thus 66% of the
time your opponent will have missed and be unable to continue. The fishier the opponent the
less you want to c-bet completely missed hands. Board texture comes a lot into this but there
are lots of great threads about this which I will try to link to some other time. I generally try to
keep my continuation bets the same size, between 2/3
rdand ¾ pot depending on stack sizes.
The smaller their stack size the less you can bet is what I find. Anything less than 2/3
rdpot
most of the time gets no respect. Into multiple opponents you can get away with betting ½ pot
occasionally but I don’t really recommend it.
When I’ve missed a flop or hit a flop I always like to continuation bet to disguise my hands
well and build a pot (when I have something). The best way to get money in the pot when you
have a strong hand is to bet it out. Especially on lower stakes games your edge comes from
people playing dominated / bad hands and not being able to fold them when they hit or paying
too much for their draws so value bet your hands to hell!
But for a quick example on board texture:
Boards like: K26 rainbow are GREAT to c-bet any hand because its really hard for the
opponent to have hit this board with a lot of his hands.
Boards like: KJT with two diamonds are not good to be continuation betting 22 because so
much of the range has hit this board you prob just spewing money away.
Boards like: KQ7 with two spades have hit a lot of the range but are still good to c-bet against
tighter opponents because if u bet 2/3
rdpot as a c-bet you need to win it a little less than 50%
of the time for it to be profitable which it should be.
Boards like Q88 with a pair are usually good to be c-betting too.
Into multiple opponents you want to be c-betting less on boards like the KQ7 but its still good
to c-bet great textured boards like K26. Also when you bet into multiple opponents you get
more respect (generally). Obv by multiple opponents I mean 2ish, not the whole table!
Summary
Things that I have just touched on and need A LOT more depth are c-bets, 3betting,
metagame, table image and all that jazz. I suggest tight and aggressive. Don’t get out of line
and avoid marginal situations. Wield position like a hammer because it really is the most
important concept in NLHE. Try not to over-estimate implied odds or suited connectors as it
will cost you in the long run!
In future I will write articles on:
•
3betting and playing against 3betting
•
Double barreling
•
Check raising continuation bets (both for value and as bluffs)
Keep in mind this is all written quickly and off the top of my head. There may be mistakes in
here but using a system like this and lots of experience I was able to cruise through micro
stakes. Practice and thinking about this game / posting hands / asking questions is the real fun
and learning process. This is just a start. Good luck.
My 5k post (fees)
Hey guys,
I started out here at 2p2 sometime last Feb at uNL as a pretty terrible strategy poster. Since then not much has changed (=P) still pretty lazy and rarely get around to making truly great strat posts, but this post will be an exception. I tried to write an ebook a little more than a month ago but about half way through I realized how much I hate writing and how lazy I was so I finished about half of it. Maybe if this thread gets positive feedback I'll finish it, but here's what I have thus far written of an ebook on the topic of beating uNL-MSNL online 6max. Enjoy=D
(sry if it doesn't read well I haven't had anyone proofread it)
Table of Contents: (this is what the book would look like if I wrote the whole thing, I got up to floating=/) 1. Preface 2. Preflop: A. UTG B. MP C. CO D. BTN E. SB F. BB 3. Flop A. Cbetting B. c/ring C. Floating D. Raising F. Unraised pots 4. Turn A. Double Barreling B. c/ring C. Floating D. Raising F. Unraised pots 5. River A. Triple barreling B. c/ring C. Floating D. Raising F. Unraised pots 6. Psychology A. betsizing B. Timing C. History 7. Mentality A. Health B. Game analysis C. Downswings D. Upswings E. Session Length F. Multitabling Preface
This book will cover small stakes online 6 max ring games. All hands will be assumed to be 6 handed, though other situations will be discussed. The focus of this book will be the progression of a hand or; preflop, flop, turn, river.
Your hand ranges in general should adjust and be contrary to the way the game is playing.
This means that if the game is loose (meaning there are a lot of bad players, generally players with VPIP’s higher than 28, for example a player that plays 32/5/1 is a weak bad player) you should be playing a tighter more solid game, bluffing less often (including semibluffs) and value betting thinly with 1 pair type hands. You should also play less starting hands. On the flip side if the game is tighter you should loosen up your starting range (incorporating hands such as 65s UTG as discussed previously) to exploit the your opponents tendency to fold. In these instances you should semibluff and bluff more , as you will find more fold equity.
Loose players will search for an excuse to call, whereas a tight player will look for an excuse to fold.
Table selection
When Table selecting you want to look for the following things:
• Players that play too many hands, anything above 40 VPIP is gravy, but 30 is too many hands as well. Also players that play something like 25/10 (meaning they are
limping/calling WAY too much preflop) will do as well
• Stack sizes. Generally you want players with full stacks to the right of you. You want to have position on players that you cover, as it is +EV. At the same time you want players with short stacks to your left, as short stackers that have position on you are +EV for you. In a perfect world you would play with 3 full stacks with VPIPs over 40 to your right, and too tight short stackers to your left, but this will rarely ever happen, its just
something to think about.
• Position and hands played. As described in the second feature for good game selection you want loose players to your right and tight players to your left. Again this isn’t
essential but its something to think about when switching/selecting seats, as well as changing games.
• Losing/breakeven regulars. Your strategy should involve you playing 4 tables or less and really focusing on your opponents and developing very strong reads. Feel free to play with a regular that you have as a loser or marginal winner in your database. Avoid winners. Your superior strategy will make it profitable to sit in a game with these players and exploit them, so feel free to sit, just don’t search them out or make a habit of it unless they are really bad.
• As a general guideline it is better to play at a table with a bunch of loose passive/weak tight type players than a table with someone who players 80% of their hands and 4 other solid TAGs. For example I prefer a table with a: 40/10, 30/20, 25/14, 20/12, 17/12 than a table with a 70/30, 23/20, 20/18, 20/18, 18/15. Its going to be easier to play against several bad/mediocre opponents that 1 very bad opponent and 4 good ones.
Poker is simple, as your opponents make mistakes, you profit.
Agaisnt Loose/bad players you generally want to play straight forward tight solid poker. Agaisnt Tight/good players you generally want to mix up your play and play a trickier or deceptive style. Do not make the mistake that every 20/17 multitabling tag is tight AND good. Agiasnt these types of players you want to lean towards a looser pre-flop strategy and a solid postflop strategy, as they will make mistakes for you, forcing them is not necessary.
Preflop:
This chapter is going to demonstrate preflop strategy and will focus on raising ranges, calling ranges and 3betting preflop (3B) aka preflop reraise.
Under the Gun (UTG)
Being under the gun means that you have three players to act that hold position on you; middle position (MP), cut off (CO) and the button (BTN). It also means you have two players to act that are out of position relative to you, the small blind (SB) and big blind (BB). Your UTG raising range should be the tightest of the four non-blind positions. Lets take a look at a standard preflop UTG range, assuming full stacks and a mix of tags/lag fish (players that play too many hands without purpose)/and loose passive (fish that check call and are easy to extract value from):
Range:
22+ (all pairs)
A10s+ (meaning A10s, AJs, AQs, AKs) (s meaning suited) AJo+ (meaning AJo, AQo, AKo) (o meaning offsuit)
98s+ (meaning 98s, 109s, J10s, QJs, etc) KQo
KQs
KJs+ (KJs and AQs[which was already covered]) (meaning suited 1 gappers)`
This will account for 13% of hands and is a conservative but very solid and profitable preflop raising range. Your UTG range can adjust based on the game quality you are in.
Adjusting: Loose games:
Add hands like KJo or A10o, because you can make 1 pair type hands and extract value from players calling with weaker top pair hands or second pair hands. The reason we typically avoid these type of hands in tight games is because we will frequently show up with second best 1 pair hands out of position (OOP) and will put us in tough spots and to lots of decisions. Always try to make poker easy to play.
Tight Games:
Include hands such as 65s+ or A5s. These hands have a lot of potential and will less often put you into situations where you have weak 1 pair hands out of position. These hands widen you range against likely better players and make you a more difficult and tricky opponent.
Stack Sizes:
You should also adjust your raising range based on stack sizes. For instance say you are UTG and there are two or three players with say 40BB stack sizes (or less). In this scenario you should avoid hands like 22-66 and 98s, and instead substitute in hands like KJo, QJo, A9s, A10o, because against these players you again are simply looking for a top pair type hand to get it in against (These 40bb stack players will generally be very bad and play poorly postflop getting it in with a wide range that doesn’t include many top pair type hands) Though it should be made clear in the higher MSNL and HSNL (medium and high stakes games) there are players who play a very tight and solid short stack game that are more difficult to play against, however it is uncommon to encounter one of these players anywhere below 3/6NL.
Being in Middle Position means that you will have one player to act in front of you (UTG) whom you have position on, two players to act behind you (CO and BTN) who have position on you, and two players to act behind you (SB and BB) that you have position on. Middle position is very similar to UTG, you will incorporate a few more hands, however all the same principals apply. Again lets exam a standard preflop MP range, assuming full stacks and a mix of tags/lag fish (players that play too many hands without purpose)/and loose passive (fish that check call and are easy to extract value from): 22+ (all pairs)
A9s+ A10o+ 98s+
KQo/KJo/KQs/ KJs/K10s
This accounts for about 15% of total hands. Just like UTG this range can be manipulated based on the game quality.
Adjusting:
Loose games: You generally want to avoid things like A9o, as its potential is very small. Just like UTG you can still profitably raise 98s and 109s, just do it less frequently. For example maybe you only raise these hands roughly half the time you are dealt them. Use your image/table history to determine the optimal raising opportunity. For the most part in a looser game you want to keep things closer to the vest, so just simply raise less hands in this position.
Tight Games: These games you can open up more from this position, include; 65s+
A8s, A5s Q10s Isolating:
Pending a very weak player, playing 40% or more of his hands, you need to keep in mind that peoples limping range UTG is as tight as it will get for them (even though it could be wide). You have to be careful about isolating in this position because there are two players with position on you that understand you can isolate these players with a wide range. It is ok to try and add a hand like J9s to your range here for the purpose of isolating a weak player (by weak I mean folding too much, whether it be limp folding, or to cbets/double barrels) however if you have one or two tight aggressive opponents behind you that will exploit your extended range you should err on the side of folding to avoid marginal situations. In the event that these players are in the blinds or you game selected well and you aren’t at a table with opponents that go after you, sure go for it, isolate that limper.
3betting:
In general you should be 3betting far more in position that OOP.
The only person you can 3bet in MP is UTG. You need to be very cautious when 3betting an UTG opener, because this is where their raising range is likely the tightest (ignoring when they are in the blinds).
Light 3bets are certainly profitable, however the ratio of light 3bet to value 3bet should be weighted heavily towards value. Lets say for numbers sake we value 3bet an UTG opener 80% of the time, and light 3bet 20%.
First lets assign our 3bet range: Value:
AKo/s
AJs(situational) KQs (situational) AA KK QQ JJ(situational) 1010(situational)
When I say situational I mean that it is possible that 3betting with these hands is
marginal to the point where you are not clearly ahead of their range. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t 3bet them, it just means you shouldn’t do it every time and that you should be more inclined to do it in position. A player that plays 14/12 and raises UTG probably raises the top 8% of hands. The top 8% of hands looks like the following: 88+,AJs+,KQs,AJo+,KQo
The equity of these hands against this range are: AQ (all combinations) 48% AJs 41% JJ 54% 1010 50% KQs 38% Whereas: AA 85% KK 72% QQ 63% AK 56%
Light 3bet hands: 56s-QJs
Axs (x should = 5 most often, as you will be able to flop gutshot+FD+over type hands,but 4-10 are all fine as well)
22-77 KQo AJo
It will generally be more profitable to call with small pairs preflop (as I will outline in post flop chapters) however they can certainly make their way into a light 3bet category every once and a while. You generally want to 3bet an UTG opener with 56-109s or Axs
because with the SC’s you will generally avoid second best hands and have tremendous flop potential, and the Axs hands will block combinations of AA and AK (which will help avoid him 4betting you) and also have tremendous flop potential. Avoid all other hands as they will form second `best hands often and get you in marginal spots.
Anyway back to examining when to 3bet. We said we wanted to use an 80/20 ratio, 80 value, 20 bluffs. This means for every 4 times you 3bet an UTG opener with something like AK or AA, you want to 3bet him once with 56s.
Stack Sizes:
Just like UTG you should also adjust your raising range based on stack sizes. As stacks get shorter this scenario you should avoid hands like 22-66 and 98s, and instead
substitute in hands like KJo, QJo, A9s, A10o, because against these players you again are simply looking for a top pair type hand to get it in against (These 40bb stack players will generally be very bad and play poorly postflop getting it in with a wide range that doesn’t include many top pair type hands) Though it should be made clear in the higher MSNL and HSNL (medium and high stakes games) there are players who play a very tight and solid short stack game that are more difficult to play against, however it is uncommon to
encounter one of these players anywhere below 3/6NL.
Cut Off
This is where poker will become more interesting. The cut off is the first position
considered late position and is a spot where you will more often than not, be in position. There is a much bigger transition in our range from MP to CO, as will be shown in our hand selection. The cut off is one of your most profitable positions, second only to the button. This position is where you will start isolating weak players that limp, and 3betting players to keep the pressure on. Lets get to our range:
22+ (all pairs) A5s+ A9o+ 65s+ J10o+ Q10o+ K10o/K9s
108s+ (suited one gapers) Q9s+ (suited two gapers) Roughly 23% of total hands.
The idea here is to steal blinds and isolate limpers. If you successfully steal someone’s blind you have earned 1.5BB’s (big blinds). If you beat a game for 5 PTBB (poker tracker big bets, or two big blinds) you will notice that you earn .1BB per hand. That means that stealing blinds earns you 15 times the average profit per hand. Beginning to understand why it’s so important and profitable? Lets focus on adjusting.
Loose games:
Believe it or not but playing from the CO in loose games is more tricky than tight when it comes to isolating. In a tight game you can raise anything and most decisions will be easy. In a loose game you run the risk of playing a lot of pots with marginal hands and (despite being IP) losing money. As you become better post flop you will have the
capacity to raise more and more hands from position to isolate limpers, but first we have to examine situations where we should and should not isolate a player.
Lets imagine the following scenario:
You are in the CO with K9s, UTG who plays 38/10 limps (you’ve seen this player limp UTG with KQo, and with K4s in LP), This player is on the passive side and folds to cbets 50% of the time. The button is a mediocre TAG playing 18/15 and doesn’t have a penchant for 3betting light IP, though you have seen him do it. The blinds are two half stacks playing 30-35% of their hands. What’s your play?
Fold ->[Although the player UTG is bad and limps a wide range we can be sure he’s at the top of his limping range UTG and is aware of the significance of position. We also know that he folds to 50% of cbets, and likely less when his range is strong (which it is due to him being UTG). The button is of very little concern, but we know he’ll reraise us with AQ+ and 1010+ and on rare occasion with a bluff, so this is something to consider. The second biggest concern of the hand is the shorties in the blinds. They play way too many hands and don’t care about position. Without flopping sometime strong it will be hard to play against these players as they will regularly be out of line. You have a hand with some potential, as it is suited, however implied odds come from deep stacks, not short ones. This compounded with dealing with a player limp-calling UTG is problematic because it is very possible you will be three way to the flop.]
You are in the CO with 65s, MP limps, he has a full stack and plays 25/12, with a fold to cbet of 66%. The button is a 20/10 weaktight player. The blinds have one good winning TAG who 3bets too much OOP and one donk who plays big pots with marginal hands too often, and has between 140 and 180BB’s, and you cover.
Raise ->[ You definitely want to raise to isolate the player in MP who is definitely weak tight. His fold to cbet is on the low end as far as weak tight goes, but you have full stacks and position, combined with a hand with major potential is a very profitable situation. We don’t want the button to come along, but if he does we still can represent something cbetting the flop, and we also have major flop potential if the flop comes our way. The TAG who 3bets too much is kind of problematic, but this is a situation where once and a while we can call and bluff some flops, if need be. The other great feature of this hand is the weak player in the blinds who we cover. We will have position on this guy with amazing implied odds, so we definitely don’t mind if he comes in.]
If a player calls too much after the flop you want to lean towards raising something like K9s, instead of 65s, unless you are 100bb+ with that player. General against these guys you can milk them with strong pairs/draws, so it supports raising a Kx hand that can make strong pairs. In the first scenario we didn’t raise K9s due to short stacks, but that was only because we we’re afraid that UTG would also come along with a hand that might dominate us, also we’d rather have 65s in a multiway pot, as opposed to k9s with much less potential postflop. It may seem somewhat counter intuitive and as if I was contradicting myself, but focus on each facet of the hand and how one hand can be a more profitable raise than the other, if they are in fact profitable at all. FWIW I’d rather raise 65s in the first scenario, though its close between raising and folding.
Lets focus on a scenario where it would be preferable to isolate with K9s/K10o/A9o, etc.
You are in the CO with A9o, MP limps, he has between 75 and 100BB’s and plays 40-50/5-15. The button is a tight player, and the blinds are also on the somewhat tight side, maybe playing as many as 35% of hands, but less OOP. This player folds to cbet 70%+ of the time. [As his fold to cbet increase, so should your isolating range, and visca versa]
Button:
Button is the most fun and interesting position to be in. There are more opertunities to raise, 3bet, isolate and cold call than any other position. You will play loosest on the button. Your button raising range can be very wide or very tight, it really is all about the game you are in. It is very possible to raise 50% of your hands on the button, profitably. Lets get into the range:
22+ A8o+ K9o
Q9o+ (offsuit 2 gapper) J9o+(offsuit 1 gapper) 98o+ 54s+ 64s+ 96s+ 106s+ K8s A2s+
This entire book is going to try to teach you how to make decisions by yourself, through detailed explanation and examples. This range is very tentative, it can be widened and
tightened by as much as 15% based on your table. Looser games:
The button is so complicated that I want to give you some very straightforward
guidelines and let you come to your own conclusions as to whether or not a button raise is profitable. Anything you would raise from MP you can open or even isolate OTB. The other hands will put you to decisions in loose games. In loose games where there are a lot of limp-calls you want to avoid things like 64s or 98o. If for the most part you can isolate the one donk who is limp-calling lean towards a K9s or a J9o. In the event that people are loose by will limp-fold with a decent frequency you can use almost the entire range, maybe cut out 2% of hands or so, just the bottom of the range (64s-86s, A8A9o, 106s-Q9s, 54s-76s, A2-4s, etc) If you prefer some hands and dislike others that’s fine, earlier analysis should provide examples of how certain hands are easier to play/more profitable than others in certain situations. In the event people are limp-calling or there are frequently multi-way flops (3 or more players) you need to really cut it down, raise maybe a tight CO range and raise it bigger, it’s okay to make it 5bbs+1 for each limper, in these games people will tend not to notice or care.
Tighter Games:
These are far more interesting. As the game gets tighter and there’s less limping or people limp-fold or play weakly you can really open up. The most important factor when opening the button is the blinds tightness. Most TAGs (tight-aggressive player) will be very tight OOP, this means that on the button you can profitably raise just about any two suited cards, any ace, and medium offsuit cards (though, these less than anything). The idea here is that players will just willingly give up 90% of their hands, and even if they do make it to the flop we will have position. I think for the most part tight players are going to limp strictly small pairs, suited connectors, and KQ type hands from early position. Take this into account, these types of hands are hit or miss, they will c/f the flop or try and play a big hand with these, which makes it easy on us b/c if we are weak we can give up our hand with ease, it lets us select when we want to play big pots with opponents. I am far more inclined to isolate a weak tight player with a marginal hand, than a loose/passive player.
Stack sizes:
Like most things as stack sizes grow so does opening range and your strategy. I just said “. I am far more inclined to isolate a weak tight player with a marginal hand, than a loose/passive player.” In the event I am deep (200BB+) this equation changes and I would Instead rather play with a loose/passive type because I know that all my two-pair+ type hands can really get paid off by these guys, and I can also cbet/extract with 1 or no pair type hands. Same thing if you want to open into Looser blinds, you can raise the entire range plus more with marginal hands because you will have position and an unlikely holding that has tremendous potential and will often be a disguised hand. As stack sizes shrink, avoid 64s type hands, and embrace K8s or A9o, as they are the bread and butter of the bottom of your range.
You should focus on trying to raise when a loose player limps and there are tight players to act behind you (all of these situations are talking about marginal hands, your core range should always be raised).
So lets say a 40/20/1 limps in MP, you are OTB with 57s, he has about 110BB’s and you cover. The blinds are a nit and a 29/14 that folds BB to steal often (this is a statistic you should be using) You can for sure profitably raise your 75s, probably 90BB+ in this situation (effective stacks). In the event that the BB plays 40% of his hands and the SB
is a 20/18 tag, you should raise this hand less often.
Understand that these situations are fictional, real poker at a table online is completely different from table to table, each one unique, just focus on every factor, for example the loose player in the BB. He makes you want to raise this hand less often, but let’s say the limp folds to 90% of cbets, that makes you more inclined to raise. Consider all these things when making your decision, and then come up with a solution (to raise or fold). FWIW if someone folds 90% of cbets I’ll isolate them VERY loose, almost regardless of other players in the hand, unless the blinds are two loose shorties or something of this nature.
3betting:
Here your range is also the widest. You want to 3bet on the button far more than any position (go after people in position, not OOP). Here you probably want your ratio to be 3:2, so for every 3 value 3bets, you throw in two bluffs. This equation changes against more adept opponents that will really play back at you and go after you preflop or after the flop, but until an opponent shows a willingness to combat our strategy, continue to exploit his weak play and keep the pressure on. When 3betting you must first consider position, the CO is when our opponents range is the widest, and the position we 3bet this player the most. The second thing (but most important thing) is the % of hands this player raises. This was discussed in an earlier street, but the general idea is that the more raises this player makes the more we can 3bet, however players that raise way too much, say a 38/26, avoid 65s and lean towards AJo, these players will frequently see the flop with you and you want to show up with a strong pair type hand. The third part of the equation is history. If a player keeps folding to 3bets or c/f’s every missed flop continue to pound on him. If a player is good and willing to 4b bluff or c/r a flop with a draw or complete air, avoid bluffing so much and lean towards more value 3bets. Almost any range, ratio, principal, idea or strategy in this book can be manipulated to exploit your opponent, you just have to analyze his play and come to conclusions about how he plays, then figure out how to exploit it (a simple example of this is someone who 3bets 80%+ of hands, here you c/r this player with air to exploit him cbetting so often with marginal holdings, thus exploiting him and making you money. It also makes you harder to play against and helps your made hands get paid off by weak holdings)
Flop Play:
A. Cbetting
Continuation betting is one of the most important elements of your strategy, it allows you to win a wealth of small pots and makes you difficult to play against if executed correctly.
Let’s focus on situations to profitably cbet:
1. The first scenario is the easiest to understand and grasp, any opponent with a high fold to cbet (70% or higher), you can cbet basically your entire range profitably. When cbetting you want to have some hope for your hand, i.e. cbetting 98s on 552 is generally something you want to avoid doing, except against these players. There are three
instances where I do not cbet against these players:
A. They are short and my hand has very little potential, which worries me, (i.e. 98s on 552, or 22 on 1098)
B. I have a note that says when I do not cbet they go bluff crazy, in these spots I’ll check very strong hands like 99 on 922 flop or something of this nature. (FWIW never check 99 on something like 974cc, anything with texture like this, even if they do go bluff crazy when you check flops). Another situation I would check would be something like AK or AA
on K52, K22, K94 (rainbow, bet all flops with any FD).
C. I have QQ on K52r (Or any second pair type hand where you are in a WA (way
ahead)/WB (way behind) situation, where by checking you can get value from like 77 (on this board) on later streets. Other WA/WB situations include like 1010 on Q77, or A2 on AK6.
2. Now lets focus on loose/bad players that are calling way too many cbets (calling way too much in general). Lets assume they fold to cbet 50% or less of the time. Against these players you have to be more cautious and give things up more easily, Before I go forward I want to interject and mention that:
You generally want to be cbetting almost every single Ace or King high board, as players will view your range weighted towards these types of hands (and coincidently they will not have these types of hands very often) and will give you extraordinary amount of credit. Even against two opponents I would cbet the vast major of Ace and King high boards (pending stack sizes and notes), however anything more than two I wouldn’t get fancy, but that doesn’t mean I check when I do hit.
This is somewhat contrary to what I’ve been describing about how to play against these types of players (being very close to the vest), but on occasion you are missing value by not double or triple barreling these types of players. For the most part I’m not going to indulge in any complicated triple barrel spots, so for instance say we raise in EP (early position) and cbet a AQ4 (two flush or rainbow) and get instantly called by a player playing somewhere between 30-45% of his hands and folds to very few cbets (as described earlier). One of my favorite indicators for a good double/triple barrel spots is the SNAP flop call. This can never be a big hand (or very rarely) because if he does have AQ or 44 (and in some instances A4), he would at least have to think momentarily about his action, whether to raise or just smooth call. By instantly calling (btw this is something you should focus on avoiding, a lot of information can be drawn on timing) he’s basically telling you “My range here is some A7 type hand, or a draw”. Pending some read that this player will never ever fold TP (which is uncommon for the games you’ll play in, for the most part these loose/bad players will not be stacking off with marginal 1pair in this particularly type of situation) you will be able to profitably double or triple barrel. In this situation I would most love to have a gutshot or FD myself (against these players I’ll put a lot of pressure on with FD’s, FD=flush draw) so you have some equity. Anyway the point is put the pressure on, if they are going to snap call your flop bet and have a range that is for the most part on the weak side (in this instance the strong hands he could have are AQ, 44, and A4, however is calling range is MUCH wider) put the pressure on. Don’t be surprised if he takes a while to call the turn, if hes a particularly weak player this will rarely be him trying to disguise his very strong hand inducing a triple, it will be him genuinely weak trying to figure out whether to call or fold, If this is the case I probably fire a river barrel.
Also if you have the opportunity to bet something like $99 or $199 on the river or something I suggest it, this bet size will terrify them.
Anyway when thinking about theory/strategy of approaching these call-too-many cbet type players, the simple answer is to tighten your range (which widens/tightens based on stacksizes, don’t forget) and simply c/f the flop. There are situations I don’t mind a c/c or a vbet with like A10+ or something, so say the board is like 1099, some loose guy calls OOP, I don’t mind cbetting AJ here because him having a better hand is rarely, and if he has some under pair his equity sucks. Also say I’m like BvB with AK on 332 (I’m SB) against one of these guys, I will probably c/c this board, and pending a read c/c or c/f turn (your default is fold until he proves that he will put you on AK in this types of situations and try to take you off of it)
3. Ok, so we’ve talked about weak-tight and loose-passive type of players and what our cbet tendencies should be, now lets get to the fun stuff, TAGs. These will generally be your toughest opponents (even if they are bad TAGs), these are the types of players where we like to mix up our play and throw in curve balls from time to time. Agaisnt these guys I’ll cbet just about every ace and king high flop, because their preflop calling range is rarely going to contain TP, unless its like they flatted AJ or KQ or something, but instead their range is weighted to small pairs and suited connectors (FWIW a pair has a 1 in 9 chance of flopping a set). There is danger here, against your better/more thinking opponents simply cbetting will not be enough. I remember playing against a player at FTP 200 who played something like 21/18 and played me tough/tricky. He definitely love to go after me and my cbets. Anyway I raised 98s from the SB and he called in the BB. The flop came K85r. I cbet $8 (4 BB’s), he raised to $32. This is a very suspicious line from him, if he had any king it doesn’t really make sense because we didn’t have enough history for me to get it in with anything worse than a strong king, so this isn’t really a possibility. The flop was rainbow so he can’t be semi-bluffing anything but a 76, and the only made hand he reps is 55 and far less often 88. Anyway In this situation my
opponent is likely bluffing because his range contains very few made hands, now I did like the fact that I had 98 because if he does have 67 I have the best hand and a
blocker, or if he has something really weird like KQ or 77 I have the equity/the best hand (however this is a small factor in my thought process). Anyway I discourage calling because then you are in a very marginal OOP spot and you don’t have the initiative in the hand, which makes your hand have less value intrinsically (Initiative simply means that you were the last person to bet/raise). So the simple answer Is that it is profitable to 3b/fold in this situation given the information (this is the yeti-theorem , which states that a 3bet on a dry board is always a bluff, and in this situations it kind of is, however we think we’re bluffing with the best hand) I 3bet to $76 and he folded quickly, so our analysis was very likely correct as we ran into the majority of his range in this spot (bluffs). You probably won’t have a ton of history with TAGs (when it comes to cbetting and stuff) because your game selection should for the most part allow you to avoid these guys (you aren’t trying to avoid them, we would rather exploit them, but we want to exploit everyone we play, and fish are simply more exploitable and more profitable). Out of position you generally want to just bet your entire range (made hands, semibluffs, second pairs and bluffs), I remember recently watching a hand with Krantz and
Peachykeen where peachy raised UTG and Krantz called in MP. The flop came K74r, peachy c/r’d the flop, and krantz shoved. Peachy had AK and Krantz had KQ. There is clearly a lot more here than meets the eye and a ton of history, but nothing about this makes sense or is any sort of standard, you will never run into a situation at anywhere below $1000 where this is even remotely necessary, so out of position just cbet your range. (FWIW its ok to c/f like AK on 765 or something, against these guys you want to be more cautious about cbetting marginally, just look at their fold to cbet, if its low give up more and if its high go after them more, simple right=D). Also keep diligent notes about how they react to cbets so that you can adjust accordingly. In position it becomes more interesting, IP I mix it up a lot and check tons of flops back, particularly when I’m marginal (this is called polarizing your range, which for the purpose of most MSNL games and lower is OK, but fundamentally against tough opponents is bad because its
exploitable if they figure out what your doing. For the most part your opponents here will not). What I mean when I say I want to polarize my range is that say I raise A2cc OTB and the BB (TAG) calls. The flop is AK5r and he checks, this is a great situation to check it back. It’s going to be very unlikely that he will ever call will a worse hand, and we will occasionally be c/r’d off the best hand and we will miss value from something like KQ or 88(if its suited I will on occasion still check it back, just less frequently). Anyway this is a great spot to check it back and maybe fire the turn. If the turn is something like a King or 5 I will probably check it again because nothing about this board has really changed and it will still be difficult to extract, I’ll probably just vbet the river. I would probably play QQ the same way, or I might just check it down depending if my opponent does or does not have the capacity to call with worse, fwiw if something like a K or A peels on the
turn or river you should be more inclined to bet because its unlikely he’s checking trips and its very likely he thinks you don’t have trips either, so he might make a marginal call down. Against very tough player you will occasionally be river c/r’d with a range of trips/bluffs, but this is very uncommon amongst even good players at these stakes.
Check-Raising:
Let’s now focus on the flop check-raise. For the most part you have probably already cultivated an aggressive image by 3-betting your opponents, so now lets suppose you slow it down and coldcall preflop. For the most part when we check raise it will mean that we have defended our blinds. Lets look at c/r situations: (For these situations lets
assume we’re up against a LP TAG opener who plays somewhere between 23/18 and 20/15.
1. Say we flatcall with something like 33 from a CO open. The flop comes 1053r. This is not a good spot to check raise unless one of the following two conditions are met: A. You have a reason to believe that the villain is bad and spewy and will always put in way too much money with a TP or overpair type hand, especially if you play your hand fast.
B. You have a history of check-raising dry boards against a decent-good opponent and he has reason to believe you are doing it with air frequently, so we c/r with a monster to balance our range.
Both of this scenario’s require us to have some sort of read or note on an opponent, so lets assume we are just vaguely familiar with how he plays and we have his stats. You want to avoid check-raising these spots, with strong hands because you are polarizing your range between air/sets and it will be difficult to get paid. Since we probably will peel (check/call) a hand like A10 or 88 (pending history, as you build history you could c/r something like TP on this board for value) we want to simply c/c our entire range (of course not bluffs, it’s probably a good idea to fire away a c/r with something like QJss on this board because you have backdoor straight draws, potentially a backdoor flush draw, and two overcards, it is a good idea to go after your opponents without history in these spots because they will have to be very spewy to continue with most of their cbetting range and worst case scenario you develop an image that you like to c/r bluff which we can later exploit by c/ring with big hands). Anyway the point is when you flop a monster on a dry board start by check-calling, and go from there.
2. This was mentioned in example one but now lets say we have QJss or 76ss on 1053r (one spade). Assume same type of villain, this is a great check-raise spot because we have backdoor draws or a gutshot, and because our opponent will also have a tough time having a hand strong enough to continue with on this flop. Be more and more inclined to make these sort of bluff c/r’s against players that cbet a lot, really anything greater than 70% and you can for sure do it fairly often, as their cbet % decreases so should your c/r frequency. History also plays a roll, if he gave up the first time, do it again, put him to the test and make him adjust or just get run over. If he has seen you do it and is inclined to not give credit then change gears and just c/f and let him have it. Also you should see an increase in success of these types of plays in multiway pots. So say for example you have been really going after a guy preflop and decide not to squeeze so you overcall something like A5s. The flop comes 732r, you check, the PFR cbet, whoever called preflop comes along, you should c/r this spot, you have assumably backdoor flush outs, an overcard, and a gutshot. Not to mention a ton of FE, and it appears as though you have to have a huge hand because you just c/r’d a particularly dry board into two players. The risk you run is the overcaller having a set on this board, however this will generally be unlikely and in the event that he does we should have a little bit of equity. (FWIW it’s a c/r, fold to 3bet, we obviously don’t want to put our money in with ace high
and a gutshot) As far as bet sizes go, for the first scenario lets assume your opponent cbets 6bb’s into 8bb’s, you should c/r to 18bb’s with everything. In the second scenario, lets say your opponent cbets 8bb’s into 10bb’s, someone calls, you should c/r to 30bb’s with your entire range (this is to keep it consistent and avoid giving away something on bet sizing). These are rough numbers, just keep it somewhere within this range and you should be fine.
3. Now lets imagine we flop a made hand on a drawy board, say we have 87 or 55 on 965dd. In this situation we instead want to play our hand quickly and c/r (as discussed previously, big hands should be slowplayed on dry boards), but on boards with draws and texture we should opt to play our hands quickly, our opponents will be far more incline to play their 1 pair/big draw type hands fast to maximize fold equity, and since they have none and we are way ahead we want to get the money in now. These boards should on occasion also be c/r’d with draws, but keep in mind that depending upon the opponent you should likely weight your range towards made hand, rather than draws, as you will likely be getting money in behind/flipping most of the time, and there is likely a more optimal way to play your draw (FWIW big draws should likely be played for a c/r, for example 98dd on 762dd, whereas 109dd should be played for a c/c on 742dd [unless your opponent folds to c/rs more than most, in which case exploit this by c/ring draws and stone bluffs, and probably c/c most big hands, unless you’ve really been going after him and you suspect he is sick of you]).
Float:
1. Lets first focus on floating with over cards. First of all we will never float OOP, it’s way too tricky and complicated, its just –ev. This means all of our floats will be done in position. What we do by floating is calling with a marginal type of hands with the intention of winning the hand on later streets. If we never floated people could just simply cbet every flop and give up because he knew he wasn’t good on the turn and would make us very easy to play against. When someone cbets and you are in position you can raise, call or fold. We want to balance each range and raising certain situations simply isn’t a good idea because our opponents will realize we raise bluff too often and we are basically giving him a free pass to 3bet bluff us, or do so with a marginal hand. Also by raising certain situations we give away the opportunity of a free card to make our hand. Anyway lets suppose MP or CO opens and we call IP with QJss. The flop comes 1084r (with or without a spade). Our opponent is a normal TAG and cbets, which he will likely do with a big part of his range. Lets say on average he opens 20% of hands from these positions (combined, more from CO and less from MP).
Lets see what his range looks like at best in relation to this board: 22+,A8s+,KTs+,Q9s+,J9s+,T8s+,98s,87s,ATo+,KTo+,QTo +,JTo
There are a lot of 1pair or no pair hands in there. This is also a fairly conservative estimate, so if this is the top of his range we can certainly peel. So lets say we call his cbet and the turn is a brick, a deuce or 6 or 4, whatever, he checks. Now we execute our float and bet 60-75% of pot. He will generally be c/ring or c/fing this spot, leaning
towards folding, if he check/calls who knows, he probably has like 109 or 99 or something, but I would probably just give up unless you are sure he has some under pair, in which case bet the turn and river (FWIW you should do this with made hands like A10 as well to valuetown him).
Ok now lets suppose we hit our gin card, 9. Again if he checks we have no option but to bet and hope he c/r’s for us to shove over. If he bets again it is probably because he has a strong hand, and at this point I would probably just put in a medium sized raise, so say he cbets 15bb’s into 22 or so on the turn, I would likely make it 40bb’s to entice him to come along with something like JJ or QQ, or to hopefully reshove a worse made h and. In
